An evaluation of economic and performance feedback in an inspection task with explicit economic consequences

Feedback has been consistently shown to improve inspection speed and accuracy, provided it is given in a timely and appropriate manner. Traditionally, this feedback has been with regard to speed and accuracy performance. Nevertheless, when there are explicit economic consequences associated with the inspection process, economic feedback is also an alternative. This study compares performance feedback with economic feedback in a realistic simulation of an aircraft inspection task. Subjects provided with performance feedback showed overall improvement in speed and accuracy. Subjects provided with economic feedback not only demonstrated similar improvement, but also approached economically optimal trade-offs between speed and accuracy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.